Federal funding cut off to silver ring thing

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The federal government agreed to stop funding a nationwide program that promotes teen abstinence to settle a lawsuit alleging the money was used for Christian proselytizing.

The agreement was reached this week between the Department of Health and Human Services and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Under the deal, the Silver Ring Thing program won't be eligible for more funding unless it ensures the money won't be used for religious purposes.

''Public funds were being used to fund a road show, really, to convert teens to Christianity,'' said Julie Sternberg, an ACLU attorney.

She said the ACLU supports the program's right to offer religious content, but not with taxpayer money.

Joel Oster of the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the program in court, said it was ''pleased that abstinence-based sex education programs like Silver Ring Thing will continue to have the right to seek federal funding.''

The Silver Ring Thing program, related to a Christian ministry based in the Pittsburgh suburbs, has received more than $1 million in federal funding during the past three years.

The program puts on shows at churches that include comedy skits, music videos and a message of abstinence. Young people are given a silver ring and decide whether they want to pledge to abstain from sex.

In its federal lawsuit in May, the ACLU complained that the ring was inscribed with a Biblical verse exhorting Christians to remain holy and refrain from sexual sin. It also alleged that group members testified how accepting Jesus improved their lives.

I have no problem if a private group wants to promote something like Silver Ring Thing. It's when they receive federal money to promote a religious based program that it becomes a problem. Aside from the evidence that abstinence programs don't really work, if religious scholars and the like want to privately promote those programs then they have the right. Government and religion need to remain seperate.